Lakers coach Mike Brown chats with Kobe Bryant during the Lakers’ 99-91 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in their home opener at Staples Center. Multiple news outlets are reporting Brown has been fired after a 1-4 start to the season.

The Lakers’ firing of head coach Mike Brown on Friday speaks to the urgency that ownership feels with regard to this and next season, the last two prime chances for the Lakers to win championships before planning to cut payroll below the luxury-tax plateau in accordance with the new collective bargaining agreement.

Lakers owner Jerry Buss, 78, also has had health problems and isn’t getting any younger. One of his goals is for the Lakers to have more total NBA championships than the rival Boston Celtics, with the Celtics currently leading, 17-16.

“The bottom line is the team was not wining at the pace that we expected the team to win,” Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said Friday afternoon. “And we didn’t see improvement.”

Among the reasons for firing Brown just five games into the season were his failure to deliver the dominant defense he suggested he would, a struggling bench unit with peculiar rotations and Brown’s inability to get messages across to the team. Brown was notified at 9:30 a.m. Friday morning of the decision, which Kupchak said was made by Lakers owner Jerry Buss, executive vice president Jim Buss and him starting Thursday.

“We’re not looking five or 10 years down the road,” Kupchak said. “This team was built to contend this year. There’s no guarantee that this team will win a championship, but we feel it can be deeply in the hunt.”

In a statement, Brown said: “I have great respect for the Buss family and the Lakers’ storied tradition and I thank them for the opportunity they afforded me. I have a deep appreciation for the coaches and players that I worked with this past year and I wish the organization nothing but success as they move forward.”

Lakers players were sent home from morning shootaround Friday with a game on tap Friday night against the Golden State Warriors. Assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff, who gave Brown his first job as a Denver Nuggets intern, is interim Lakers head coach. He is expected to begin the shift at least slightly away from the new read-and-react offense installed this training camp by Brown.

Among the possibilities for a permanent solution would be Phil Jackson, Mike D’Antoni, Mike Dunleavy, Nate McMillan, Jerry Sloan, Mike D’Antoni, Brian Shaw, Kurt Rambis and Jeff Van Gundy. Early indications from both sides are that nothing concrete would prevent another go-around for Jackson, who led the Lakers to NBA championships in 2000-02, left in ’04 and returned for two more titles in 2009-10. He is already in Los Angeles and would be open to returning to work, perhaps in a supervisory role if not a coaching one.

“When there’s a coach like Phil Jackson, one of the all-time greats, and he’s not coaching, I think we would be negligent not to be aware that he’s out there,” Kupchak said.

Kupchak also said there is “a remote possibility that you’d look at assistants in this league. … It’s more likely that we would look to coaches that aren’t presently employed.”

Kobe Bryant is expected to be consulted during this coaching search more than he was during the one that brought Brown a year and a half ago.

On his Facebook, Bryant posted this: “Tough day. I’ve seen coaches as well as friends come and go. No matter how many years I’ve been playing, it’s still hard to deal with. I had a good relationship with Mike and I will continue to have one. I wish him and his family nothing but the best. I spoke with him today and thanked him for all of his hard work and sacrifice.”

Bryant also posted: “I’m not sure what direction we are heading in next. All I can do is focus on the here and now.”

Dwight Howard will be a free agent at season’s end and is regarded as the future of the franchise, so Howard’s opinion should be considered also. The Lakers, who are beginning a six-game homestand with games Friday night against Golden State and Sunday night against Sacramento, would like to have a new coach in place by early next week.

“We didn’t even begin a search, but we do have a list that we put together,” Kupchak said. “We will go through that list in an orderly fashion.”

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